To be clear, Sunset Boulevard is not really a guide for how to do anything. The story famously does not end particularly well for anyone, and though Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond does spend most of her time in a giant mansion, her life—built around fan fake mail, terrible screenplays, and the occasional chimp funeral—is probably not a good model for anyone’s self-quarantine.

And yet, as the first installment in the new Little Gold Men Essentials miniseries, Sunset Boulevard does seem weirdly timely, whether because of Norma’s work-from-home lifestyle or for its glimpse at a Hollywood studio system facing down a massive change. It helps that a living link to the history embodied by the movie joined us for this episode: Wayne Lawson, the longtime executive literary editor for Vanity Fair and the former boss of Mike Hogan, also worked with Gloria Swanson on her 1980 autobiography Swanson on Swanson. He came armed with stories about Swanson’s silent movie career, her remarkable comeback in the wake of Sunset Boulevard’s success, and why people like Andy Warhol couldn’t get enough of her.

The episode also includes discussion of how coronavirus continues to impact Hollywood, including the postponed voting schedule for this year’s Emmy Awards, as well as the indefinite postponement of the Tony Awards, with Broadway still shut down for the foreseeable future.

Take a listen to the episode above, and subscribe to Little Gold Men on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcast. You can also stream Sunset Boulevard on Amazon Prime, free for Prime subscribers.